In the opening scene of《致我们终将逝去的青春》(Zhì wǒmen zhōng jiāng shìqù de qīngchūn/To Our Youth That Is Fading Away aka So Young) the heroine, Zheng Wei (Yang Zishan), finds herself in a lush fantasy world, populated by fairy tale creatures both good and bad, only to awaken and find it was all a terrible dream. No more than a few minutes long, this opening reveals much of what is wrong with Zhì wǒmen zhōng jiāng shìqù de qīngchū, for as luxuriantly beautiful that dream world is – the scene must have cost a good chunk of the film’s 30 million yuan (US$5 million) budget – it is also completely irrelevant, for nothing that happens is of any importance for the story that follows. Continue reading →

Belatedly here are the South East Asian entries at the London Film Film Festival, aka the-biggest-film-event-in-the-UK-that-doesn’t-know-how-to-get-its-act-together-to-implement-a-functional-booking-system. Yeah, I’m presently mad at the BFI and their apology (excuses!) does nothing to lessen that. It’s not the first time this has happened, in fact it was worse than last year.

Anyhow, we get films from Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Most have already screened elsewhere as the LFF isn’t really a pioneering, world-premiering event, at least not when it comes to Asian films. The absence of Miyazaki’s「風立ちぬ」(Kaze Tachinu/The Wind Rises, Japan, 2013), which has been/is screening in Toronto, Venice, San Sebastián and now Hawaii, from the programme only confirms this.

Here are the (available) trailers and one-sentence synopses, by country: Continue reading →

Seen at the film’s UK premiere at the 56th BFI London International Film Festival.

Hwacha is, in essence, a longer, prettier version of CSI Seoul: it is a feature-length film with striking cinematography from the opening shots on but with a story we have been told in some form before, most likely while watching a crime television series. Continue reading →

Yume Uru Futari appeared on quite a number of Top 10 Films of 2012 lists. Tom Mes, Catherine Munroe Hotes and Eija Niskanen all counted it among their favourites in a Midnight Eye feature and Jason Grey (Loaded Films) included it as part of the “10% goodness” of cinema of the past year over at Wildgrounds, to name some examples. Continue reading →

Seen at the film’s UK premiere at the 56th BFI London International Film Festival. Like Someone in Love will be released in select British cinemas via New Wave Films on June 21, 2013.

Like Someone in Love premiered in Cannes last year, where it sharply divided the critics, leaving some rather disenchanted, if not highly irritated, in particular with its rather abrupt ending. “[T]he curtain comes down with an arbitrary crash” noted Peter Bradshaw, resident film critic for The Guardian, while Mike D’Angelo (A.V. Club) gave it a “WTF” rating, declaring the final scene “a startling, truncated conclusion that seems completely out of proportion with the lazy, anti-urgent meandering that precedes it”, ending with the words “I know there’s something happening here, but I don’t know what it is”. Continue reading →

The London Film Festival is over and I have to say I’m sort of suffering from film fatigue. I did enjoy pretty much everything I watched, but I kind of like my time to reflect on each film I see before I delve into the next one and at festivals that’s kind of hard to do – the next screening is always only a few hours away. Continue reading →

With every minute of my time occupied with work and going to the cinema (overload of the London Film Festival) this weekend, I haven’t had time to write today’s Trailer Weekly (or any other post) – will follow tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have some reviews of the cinematic awesomenesses* I’ve had the chance to enjoy for you soon as well. Meanwhile, you can ponder which Mei-weekday you are. (The image is from Studio Ghibi’s photo gallery on Facebook.)

Off to see Abbas Kiarostami’s 「ライク・サムワン・イン・ラブ」 (Raiku samuwan in rabu/Like Someone in Love, France/Japan, 2012)!

I dropped by the BFI today because my festival tickets never did arrive in the post (so not impressed!). While there, I browsed the website a bit and noticed another Japanese film on the programme for the festival (which started today!): 「ジャパン イン ア デイ」 (Japan in a Dei/Japan in a Day, UK/Japan, 2012). Continue reading →

If you follow me on Twitter, you will have probably noticed that this week I was (re)tweeting a lot about UWC, which stands for United World Colleges, a movement (?) that celebrated 50 years this week. It’s kind of hard to sum up what UWC is and the mission statement “to deliver a challenging and transformational educational experience to a diverse cross section of students, inspiring them to create a more peaceful and sustainable future” sounds as posh and empty-worded as any, except that in reality it isn’t. Basically, the United World Colleges are a connected group of schools (currently twelve institutions spread over five continents) that believes that sticking some 200 kids aged 16-19 from as many different countries as possible (usually around 75) into a boarding school for two years can somehow make the world a better place. (Full scholarships provided by the way.) Continue reading →

I’m finally getting in that third and final Trailer Weekly I had to make up for from my blogging hiatus in May. South Korea and Japan are back on the menu, which is chock-full with films on sensitive, controversial and intriguing issues: transgender identity, homosexuality, disproportionate age gaps in relationships, being female in a highly patriarchal society, surreal fables and meditations on silence and exile. It’s an eclectic and eccentric mix, but that’s how I like it.

I’ve had a long day, a long weekend really, and I don’t mean that in terms of extra time off but rather in terms of early starts and work. I worked yesterday, which meant leaving the house at 6 a.m., and went to the airport today, which meant leaving at 5:45 a.m, plus cycling plenty on both days (~65km). To work I do in any case, but going to Paddington on a Sunday morning via public transport turned out to be such a hassle that I opted for an hour on the bike instead. As for the airpot bit, that was the saddest part of the day, as I had to say goodbye to a dear friend returning to Japan for good. Missing her already. 😦 Fortunately, I had the visit of another friend plus the Zipangu Fest to distract (read: delight) me.

On to trailers: zero Japan and Korea this week, but don’t run off just yet, expand your horizon! (Or as one of the films on the list this week would say: realise that the world is bigger than the canvas you inhabit). All of this week’s suggestions come from the BFI festival catalogue. Although I’m all booked out for the festival already, I’m hoping to catch these some other time as they all look rather good!

Where to start? The British Film Institute’s London International Film Festival – running from 10-21 October this year – is such a big event that its programme release is always a little overwhelming. You don’t quite know where to look first, even if you have cinematic preferences. The BFI, in an attempt to revamp the festival (or maybe just for the new festival director Clare Stewart to make her mark), introduced thematic strands this year for the first time, but fortunately you can still browse offerings by country or director. That’s a good thing, especially since the BFI’s website (including its search function) is generally a nightmare (still no hits if you search for Tiger & Bunny, which they are screening on September 23rd). Continue reading →

Juuuuust posting this in time before Sunday is over – I had nearly finished the Trailer Weekly a few hours ago, but then a Japanese friend of mine came for dinner and I was (happily) distracted for a while, enjoying lovely company and yum food (oven grilled summer veg from the farmers’ market + couscous with sour cherries and pistachios + Korean style edamame & cucumber salad + cherries + Greek coffee).

This week’s Trailer Weekly begins with lots of USAmericana (including some big budget films), but trailers from Japan and Korea follow as well.

I promised a make-up Trailer Weekly today for one of the skipped ones in May, so here it is. If I am honest, I am way more excited about the Bonus Bits (scroll down) than the trailers today – which is not to say that the films listed are not interesting. It’s just that some of the Bonus Bits are news that make me happy! Filmwise, I’m still in Cine-Japan-mode, with a few more entries from the Nippon Connection Festival, a couple of oh-this-actor-is-in-it! and some random finds.

Momo e no Tegami is the sort of animated film that Disney, Dreamsworks and Co.1 are unlikely to ever make as it is, certainly in its first hour, much more reflective than children-oriented Western animation tends to be. Continue reading →

Seen at special screening at the BFI for the 2011 Satyajit Ray Award, which is given annually for “to the director, of any nationality, for their first Feature Film screened at the London Film Festival which best captures the artistry expressed in Ray’s own vision”. The screening was followed by a Q&A with the director.

Please note: Io sono Li does not yet have a UK distributor – a real pity for a film as outstanding as this one. I tried to do my tiny bit to promote it by reviewing Io sono Li on Otherwhere, if you like the sound of the film, please do like the review and/or share it widely, so that we can get a distributor to notice!

Chioggia, a city on the Venetian laguna, is the hometown of Andrea Segre, the film’s director, and representative of a very traditional Italy: of native fishermen that have been making their living off the sea generation after generation. Evenings are typically spent in pubs, where an older Italian Mamma rules the roost and serves the half-rough clientèle. On a visit to one such pub that Segre had known since childhood days, he found a new, completely alien face one day. Instead of one of the Mammas, who have become an institution in their own right in these places over the years, there was a Chinese woman, plainly signalling a change, a change that had been silently unfolding in the country for while already. The story of Shun Li,one of Io sono Li’s protagonists, found its beginning there, as Segre recounts: Continue reading →

Under the heading of “Explode Your Expectations” the British Film Institute (BFI) is back with its 26th Lesbian & Gay Film Festival from March 23-April 1, 2012.

Before we get to the details, can I just take a moment to complain? Although the BFI screens great films and does laudable work with its archive, their festival calendars – whether for this festival or others – are in dire need of improvement. Only the film title (and only in English) plus a one-sentence synopsis are given. No original title. No country. No director. Continue reading →

It’s one of those grey, uninspiring, semi-wintery days in London that make you just want to curl up in bed with hot chocolate and a good movie. I did watch 나무없는 산 (Namooeobsneun San/Treeless Mountain, Korea, 2008) earlier (with a review to follow next week), but had no hot chocolate unfortunately. I can’t quite convince myself to brave the on-and-off rain for a treat at the local café, so I’m moping around the house instead. Lazy Saturday afternoon…

Writing from lovely Birmingham today. I know, I know – I’m the only one that finds Birmingham lovely, but I just can’t help it – the most uncharming places become wonderful with the right people, and as I visit a dear friend here, I always enjoy my time in this much maligned second largest city of the UK. Anyhow, I perused old film festival programmes for this week’s Trailer Weekly and also included some other random discoveries. A nice variety of serious and funny, ‘real’ and animated – there should be something for everyone I hope.

Las Acacias, winner of the Sutherland Award at the BFI Film Festival and the Caméra d’Or at Cannes, both awards for the best debut feature, is a Spanish-Argentinian co-production that is highly minimalistic, featuring as much dialogue in an hour and a half as most other films do in ten minutes. Continue reading →

The 55th BFI Film Festival finished a few days ago, but not without handing out some awards. I am happy to see that We Need to Talk about Kevin won Best Film. The Sutherland Award – for the director of “the most original and imaginative feature debut in the Festival” – was awarded to Las Acacias‘s Pablo Giorgelli). Hopefully I will be able to catch this film somewhere in the near future (bonus link: trailer).

Seen at the BFI Southbank as part of the 2011 BFI Film Festival.Release date in Japan: November 5, 2011.

Hara Ga Kore Nande is the latest offering of Ishii Yuya, the director of 川の底からこんにちは (Kawa no soko kara konnichi wa/Sawako Decides). In this somewhat caricature comedy, Mitsuko (Naka Riisa, who voiced Makoto in Toki o Kakeru Shōjo), a young Japanese woman, has returned from California and is currently nine months pregnant, but her parents are not aware of either of these two facts. Mitsuko has been dumped by the father of her unborn child and is seemingly broke (although few details are provided about her exact situation). She follows a cloud in the sky – yes, a cloud in the sky – to the tenement where she lived as a child and moves back in with her old landlady, who was once a forceful woman but is now bedridden due to old age. Continue reading →

Thanks to a friend having a spare ticket I got to see the American indie Terri yesterday, which screened at Vue West as part of the 2011 BFI Film Festival. It also included a Q&A with director Azazel Jacobs and one of the producers, Lynette Howell (see below).

Seen at a screening at Vue West as part of the 2011 BFI Film Festival.

Kiseki (literally “Miracle”, but titled “I Wish” in English) is a film that belongs to the ‘slice of life’ genre. There is, however, a plot line: it revolves around two boys, Koichi and Ryu (wonderfully played by real life brothers Maeda Koki and Maeda Ohshiro), who have been living in different parts of Japan since their parents’ divorce six months prior. Continue reading →

Seen at a screening at the ICA as part of the 2011 BFI Film Festival. A warning beforehand: the film is graphic and sexually explicit.

Stateless Things was one of two Korean productions screening during the BFI Film Festival, the other being 북촌 방향 (Book-chon Bang-hyang/The Day He Arrives). Kim Kyung-mook’s third feature film (after 얼굴 없는 것들/Faceless Things, 2005, and 청계천의 개/A Cheonggyecheon Dog, 2008) provides a heavy fare: Continue reading →